Motor memory is a factor in infant perseverative errors

Why do infants make perseverative errors when reaching for two identical targets? From a dynamic systems perspective, perseverative errors emerge from repetitive perceptual–motor activity in novel and/or difficult contexts. To evaluate this account, we studied 9‐month‐old infants performing two tasks in which they repetitively reached toward either a single target or two identical targets. Results showed that, in the context of the two identical targets, perseverative responses were preceded by the creation of strong memories of previous reach directions and trajectories. In contrast, we found little evidence for convergence on habitual reach trajectories when the infants performed the less taxing single‐target task, suggesting that the demands of reaching for two identical targets strongly constrained the reaching behavior. In total, results indicated that memories of prior movements make a critical contribution to performance in the A‐not‐B task and its variants.     

A hierarchical latent response model for inferences about examinee engagement in terms of guessing and item-level non-response

In low-stakes assessments, test performance has few or no consequences for examinees themselves, so that examinees may not be fully engaged when answering the items. Instead of engaging in solution behaviour, disengaged examinees might randomly guess or generate no response at all. When ignored, examinee disengagement poses a severe threat to the validity of results obtained from low-stakes assessments. Statistical modelling approaches in educational measurement have been proposed that account for non-response or for guessing, but do not consider both types of disengaged behaviour simultaneously. We bring together research on modelling examinee engagement and research on missing values and present a hierarchical latent response model for identifying and modelling the processes associated with examinee disengagement jointly with the processes associated with engaged responses. To that end, we employ a mixture model that identifies disengagement at the item-by-examinee level by assuming different data-generating processes underlying item responses and omissions, respectively, as well as response times associated with engaged and disengaged behaviour. By modelling examinee engagement with a latent response framework, the model allows assessing how examinee engagement relates to ability and speed as well as to identify items that are likely to evoke disengaged test-taking behaviour. An illustration of the model by means of an application to real data is presented.     

Workload and burnout in nurses

This paper examines the relationship between workload, burnout and somatization in nurses. The respondents consisted of 1363 nurses employed in hospitals, which were undergoing extensive restructuring. Results of structural equation analyses showed that workload was positively related to emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion led to cynicism and somatization, and cynicism was negatively related to nurses' professional efficacy. Implications of the results for nursing practice are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infants' interactions with professional caregivers at 3 and 6 months of age: a longitudinal study

This study longitudinally investigated the quality and stability of 64 infants’ interactions with their professional caregivers in child care centers at 3 and 6 months of age, i.e., across the first 3 months after they entered child care. It was also examined whether the infants’ negative emotionality (as rated by the mother) predicted the quality of the caregiver–infant interaction. The interactive behavior of the professional caregivers (sensitivity, cooperation) and the infants (responsiveness, involvement) was rated from videotapes recorded in three different caregiving situations, lasting about 25 min in total. In contrast to our expectation, the quality of the caregiver–infant interaction did not significantly increase across the first 3 months in child care. As expected, significant rank order stability was found for the quality of the caregivers’ behavior over time. Also in accordance with our expectations, infants with higher negative emotionality scores experienced less sensitivity and cooperation in interactions with their primary professional caregivers at both ages.     

Evidence against signal enhancement as a mechanism of direct selection by color

Two of the possible mechanisms that have been put forward to explain precuing effects are signal enhancement and uncertainty reduction. Signal enhancement leads to processing advantages for valid information because the signal at the known input channel is enhanced, whereas uncertainty reduction allows observers to ignore confusing distractor items in a display. Both mechanisms have been reported to be involved in location precuing, but it is still unclear which of these two mechanisms is responsible for color cuing effects. Two experiments are reported in which expectancy for a certain color in a single-item display was created. Targetswere presented briefly and were masked. If color cues produce signal enhancement, then a color cuing effect should result. If color cues only allow uncertainty reduction, however, there should be no color cuing effect because there are no distractors in single-item displays. The results of both experiments favor uncertainty reduction as the mechanism behind color cuing, because no signs of signal enhancement-based cuing effects were observed.     

Self-Reported Depression in Mothers of Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) was administered to 164 biological mothers of sexually abused children to determine the psychometric characteristics of the BDI-II and to estimate the prevalence of self-reported depression in this population. The study also sought to ascertain whether the mothers’ BDI-II total scores were correlated with various psychosocial characteristics of the mothers and their children. It was found that there was only one dimension underlying the 21 BDI-II responses, and the internal consistency of the BDI-II total scores was high. Twenty-six percent of these mothers had scores indicative of clinical depression. The mothers’ BDI-II total scores were significantly correlated with their husbands’ or paramours’ having sexually abused their children and their ratings of the children’s internalizing behaviors. These results were discussed as supporting the use of the BDI-II with mothers of sexually abused children to measure self-reported depression.     

Parent–child talk and children's memory for stressful events

The relationship between parents' styles of talking about past events with their children and children's recall of stressful events was explored. In this investigation, 2‐ to 5‐year‐old children's recall of injuries requiring hospital emergency room treatment was assessed within a few days of the injury and again 2 years later, along with the way their parents reminisced with them about the event. Correlational analyses showed that age and parental reminiscing style were consistently related to child memory; regression analyses showed that although age was most important, parents who were more elaborative had children who recalled more during their initial interview about the harder‐to‐remember hospital event. Thus, an elaborative parental style may help children's recall of even highly salient and stressful events. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Learning from experience: Bion's concept of reverie and Buddhist meditation: A comparative study

The author argues for a common denominator between Bion's view and the Buddhist view of mental development. In both thought systems, mental growth is synonymous to learning from experience. The author closely examines Bion's concept of attention and compares it to mindfulness, a major factor in Buddhist meditation. In both doctrines, attention must be isolated from other mental processes in order to attain learning from experience. The author compares reverie to the state of mind of equanimity. She argues that enhancement of the ability of reverie, or improving the inner container such that it can hold any content while unmoved by desire, is the purpose of Buddhist practice. Both view the mind as capable of transcending its own restrictions and 'the capacity to know anything' as attainable through disciplined practice.